A New Severus Snape
by HP Slash Luv
Summary: During the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort casts a de-aging curse at Harry. Snape gets in the way of the curse, though, which de-ages him seventeen years. Snape is stuck at age twenty after Voldemort's defeat. When Hermione and her friends come back to school in the fall to start their seventh year, they're surprised to find that Snape is de-aged and looking for a cure at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** A New Severus Snape  
**Rating: **T (for now)  
**Pairing(s): **Severus/Hermione (hopefully)  
**Warnings: **Canon Divergence**, **Ron bashing?**  
Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.  
**Summary:** During the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort casts a de-aging curse at Harry. His intention is to return Harry to his infancy, to the age when he survived the killing curse, and make the Avada Kedavra stick this time around. Snape gets in the way of the curse, though, which de-ages him seventeen years.

Voldemort is eventually defeated, but Snape is stuck at age twenty. When Hermione and her friends come back to school in the fall to start their seventh year, they're surprised to find that Snape is still de-aged and still stuck at Hogwarts trying to find a cure.  
**Prompt: **battle**  
Word Count: **601  
**Notes: **For the Too Many Cooks Challenge. Each drabble will be between 100 and 800 words.  
wendymarlowe and I are sharing a universe. We are going to be alternating drabbles and supply each other with one word prompts. We aren't allowed to write anything that doesn't agree with the canon we've already established. The challenge ends when one of us feels we can't write another drabble.  
**Feedback: **Yes

* * *

Hermione looked at the strewn bodies. Her mind went back to what she was forced to witness in the heat of battle. The potion that Voldemort had made — it was absolutely terrible. She hoped Snape hadn't made it, but he had been Voldemort's resident potion master. He probably had a part in its development. The potion acted like a nerve gas. It was horrible for anyone who came in contact with it. It hadn't needed to be ingested to work; it just had to make contact with one's skin. It wasn't hard for that to happen, either, especially in the chaos of fighting.

Her eyes sought out her friends. The fighting was still happening and she knew she shouldn't have stopped for recollection. A second of her stopping might have ended in her dying.

Her eyes landed on Ron fighting some random Death Eater and Hermione wanted to roll her eyes. It was amazing he made it to seventh year. He really was an incompetent wizard. She went to help and with her power added in, the Death Eater didn't stand a chance.

Hermione kept her eyes open for the mysterious potion, the one seemingly invented just for the battle. She had to watch her step.

She looked for Harry. She knew he had been making his way to Voldemort and he might need help. She immediately ran in the direction she had initially seen him go. She dodged curses that weren't aimed at her. In fact, no one seemed to be paying her any special attention, something she was grateful for.

Her main goal was not Voldemort's death — even though she wanted it — but to make sure Harry survived. He had already given his childhood up because of a megalomaniac and the manipulations of a Headmaster who thought himself to be god. Harry deserved to have a future, and Hermione was determined to make it happen.

Hermione reached the forest and ran inside. She heard the sounds of fighting and followed them. The scene she came upon wasn't something she thought she'd never see. Harry was facing Voldemort head on, but he had been doing that for years. That wasn't the surprise. The surprise came from Snape who was fighting Voldemort along with Harry. The two of them were actually working together without arguing like they were prone to do.

Hermione, along with everyone else, had been unsure where Snape's allegiance truly lied, but this proved it to her. Why else would he be risking everything if he wasn't truly on their side?

Voldemort cackled and Hermione shivered at the sound.

"This will fix it so everything happens the way it should have the first time."

Hermione didn't have to wait long to wonder what he meant. He shot a curse at Harry, a curse that Harry wouldn't be able to dodge or block. Snape must have seen it, too because he pushed Harry out of the way to take it instead.

When the dust settled, where Severus Snape, feared Potion Master once stood, now stood someone who was younger. A lot younger. He looked only a little older then her in fact.

Harry recovered from the shock faster that Voldemort and gathered the power he needed. With no more Horcruxes, Voldemort could finally be killed.

Voldemort foolishly believed the master wand would kill Harry and tried to shoot a killing curse at him. It rebounded against Harry's disarming curse and struck Voldemort, killing himself.

There was silence. Hermione felt like weeping. It was finally over. She turned her gaze to Snape. What was going to happen with him, though?


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** A New Severus Snape

**Rating: **T (for now)

**Pairing(s): **Severus/Hermione (hopefully)

**Warnings: **Canon Divergence**, **Ron bashing?

**Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.

**Prompt: **relief

**Word Count: **270

**Notes: **For the Too Many Cooks Challenge. Each drabble will be between 100 and 800 words.  
wendymarlowe and I are sharing a universe. We are going to be alternating drabbles and supply each other with one word prompts. We aren't allowed to write anything that doesn't agree with the canon we've already established. The challenge ends when one of us feels we can't write another drabble.

Wendymarlowe's collection: www. fanfiction s/9917837/1/A-New-Severus-Snape (without spaces)  
Be sure to read it.

**Feedback: **Yes

* * *

Harry really couldn't believe it. The Order had screamed their relief at the news of Voldemort's demise. There was celebrating and hugging. Everyone ignored the people who grieved over their loved ones that died in battle. Well, almost everyone.

Harry's eyes continuously strayed to the people who laid down with their eyes closed, with their eyes closed and never to be opened again. His mind also wandered back to Snape. The old Professor was a lot of things. It was the first time he thought of the man as a hero, though.

Up until that point, when they fought together against Voldemort, he hadn't realized the man was on his side. He went from believing the man to being a Death Eater, to believing him to be on their side, to seeing the man risk everything to save him. Snape had no way of knowing what that spell would do to him, but he still got between it and Harry. The boy-who-lived didn't fool himself. He knew it really wasn't about saving Harry for who Harry was; it was about defeating Voldemort and the fact that Harry was the only one who could do it.

Still, he hoped Snape would be okay and a counter spell or something would be found to reverse the damage.

His eyes roamed the area, and he saw Hermione doing the same thing. He wondered if they were looking for the same person. It didn't matter. There was no Severus Snape in the vicinity of the celebrating crowd. And by Hermione's disappointed look, he knew she had been looking for the missing wizard as well.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** A New Severus Snape

**Rating: **T (for now)

**Pairing(s): **Severus/Hermione (hopefully)

**Warnings: **Canon Divergence**, **Ron bashing

**Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.

**Prompt: **aggravated

**Word Count: **438

**Notes: **For the Too Many Cooks Challenge. Each drabble will be between 100 and 800 words.  
wendymarlowe and I are sharing a universe. We are going to be alternating drabbles and supply each other with one word prompts. We aren't allowed to write anything that doesn't agree with the canon we've already established. The challenge ends when one of us feels we can't write another drabble.

Wendymarlowe's collection: www. fanfiction s/9917837/1/A-New-Severus-Snape (without spaces)  
Be sure to read it. The stories should make sense separately, but you'll enjoying the reading experience better if you read both.

**Feedback: **Yes

* * *

Hermione had been so sure Professor Snape would find a cure to the spell. He was a brilliant Potions master. He had a brilliant mind period. Of course she had been certain. No way would he fail.

Obviously she underestimated Voldemort, which truly was a stupid thing to do. When a dour, obviously aggravated man who looked to be in his twenties – _Professor Snape_, her mind reminded her – stomped past all of the students, she knew he hadn't been successful in finding a cure.

_How can that be? Well, most people would rejoice in being young, so maybe no one ever thought up a way to look older, or at the very least, revert to one's natural age_. Hermione's mind worked it out all by herself.

Obviously Professor Snape didn't rejoice in being younger. And if he was truly continuing to be a professor at Hogwarts, he was going to have trouble controlling his classes with the new looks. Not many students were going to find that face intimidating.

Hermione shared a look with Harry. She read the guilt plainly on her face. She wanted to reassure her best friend that it wasn't his fault. The only person to blame was Voldemort. Harry didn't cast the spell, and Severus chose to dove in front of it. She didn't waste her breath, though. Harry would blame himself if he wanted to, and nothing Hermione said was going to change that. The hero complex and the guilt was a part of Harry that was irreversible.

They approached the temperamental man. Hermione said something stupid, causing Professor Snape to snap, and she listened as Harry thanked and apologized. It wouldn't make his guilt go away, but it would maybe relieve some of it. Hopefully.

Ron chimed in with "Let us know if there's anything we can do," although Hermione knew he really didn't care. Ron Weasley just hated being left out, even if it was making nice with his most hated professor.

Professor Snape seemed surprised, but graciously accepted their thanks.

Hermione couldn't help starting at Professor Snape before Harry pulled her away to the tables. There was something about him that made him seem more approachable. She scoffed to herself. _Of course he's more approachable. Look at his age_. For such a smart witch, she could be really stupid at times.

Maybe this year wouldn't be so bad after all. Maybe some good would come from Professor Snape's transformation. She'd love to get to know the man behind the mask, and she may actually get to now, if the way he reacted to the three of them was any indication.


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** A New Severus Snape

**Rating: **T (for now)

**Pairing(s): **Severus/Hermione (hopefully)

**Warnings: **Canon Divergence**, **Ron bashing

**Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em - not making any money off 'em. Dern it.

**Prompt: **Trouble

**Word Count: **257

**Notes: **For the Too Many Cooks Challenge. Each drabble will be between 100 and 800 words.  
wendymarlowe and I are sharing a universe. We are going to be alternating drabbles and supply each other with one word prompts. We aren't allowed to write anything that doesn't agree with the canon we've already established. The challenge ends when one of us feels we can't write another drabble.

Wendymarlowe's collection: www. fanfiction s/9917837/1/A-New-Severus-Snape (without spaces)  
Be sure to read it. The stories should make sense separately, but you'll enjoying the reading experience better if you read both.

**Feedback: **Yes

* * *

Hermione knew what she was feeling could get her into trouble. Her heart wasn't supposed to pound when she looked at her Potions professor. She couldn't help it, though. She already knew Professor Snape was intelligent – something she had always been attracted to – but couple that with the fact that a younger Snape was cute, it was a dangerous combination.

Hermione's eyes were continuously drawn to him during opening feast, but he barely looked at her, not that she could blame him.

Harry and Ron talked, but she ignored them. Even when Ron nudged her, she didn't pay attention, too caught up in her silent musing.

If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed Ron flirting and Harry rolling his eyes at it, but alas, it went right over her head.

When the feast and sorting were over, they followed the familiar path to the Gryffindor Tower. Hermione glanced at Professor Snape before leaving, but he was totally focused on his own house.

Hermione said goodnight, ignoring Ron's attempts to get her attention. Harry gave her a knowing look, and Hermione wandered what he knew.

Harry had never been the most observant person, but he had changed quite a bit because of the war. Fighting for your life would do that to you. She knew that even if he guessed about her crush on Professor Snape, he wouldn't tell anyone, though. If anyone could keep a secret, it was Harry.

Now all she had to do was figure out how to get over her crush.


End file.
